Meowth's Cold
by PrincessSara1998
Summary: After another failed attempt to catch Ash's Pikachu, Team Rocket's Meowth comes down with a cold. Luckily, Wobbuffet is more than willing to take care of him. Contains sneezing and a small amount of (not detailed) mucus. Complete until I come up with another chapter.


Team Rocket's Meowth and Wobbuffet poked their heads from the trees that they were standing behind. A couple of feet ahead of them was a river, and on the other side, they saw Ash's Pikachu playing with Lotad, Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip. They were all chasing one another and laughing happily, but Meowth was in no mood to join them. Instead, he wanted to do what he and Wobbuffet had always intended to do, which was to catch Pikachu. Throughout all of the adventures they had been together, Meowth and Wobbuffet had always tried to catch Pikachu for their trainers and masters, Jessie and James. But no matter what they did, they just kept failing. They kept trying, however, both expecting their luck to change. Maybe this time, they'd finally get what they wanted.  
"Okay, here's what I'm gonna do," Meowth said to Wobbuffet. "I'm gonna cross that river, then sneak up on Pikachu, catch him and bring him back here."  
"Wob! Wobbuffet?" Wobbuffet asked. Unlike Meowth, Wobbuffet couldn't speak, but Meowth was smart enough to know what he was trying to ask him.  
"Yeah, I know I'm afraid of water. But would you quit complaining about it? As long as I know what I'm doing, I'll get over there just fine!"  
Wobbuffet appeared to accept that response. "Wobba."  
"All right, here goes!" Meowth said, and then leaped out from the tree he was behind. He then went over to the river, eyeing the few stone pillars emerging out of the water. They formed a bit of a crooked pathway to the other side of the river, but Meowth took the risk. He jumped onto the first pillar, then the next one. He kept doing this for the next couple of pillars until he reached the last one. Rather than landing on top of this one, he caught himself by grabbing it and wrapping his arms around it. His tail touched the water under him, causing him to cringe and climb up the pillar to the top. The water seemed pretty cold, but now that he had gotten past that, the only thing to do was to try to catch Pikachu without getting caught.  
Luckily, Pikachu was close to the river, had his back turned, and was playing with Lotad in front of him. Meowth saw his chance. Leaping from the pillar onto the grass, Meowth got back onto his hind legs and prepared to tiptoe his way to the mouse Pokemon. He crept up to him from the side, then turned to face his back. He rubbed his paws together and smirked. Inside, he was laughing evilly in triumph.  
However, Pikachu's ears went upright. He had the strangest feeling that something was amiss. He looked around a few times, slightly turning his head back and forth, before looking right behind him to see his worst rival. At this moment, Meowth was planning to catch Pikachu, but when Pikachu saw him, all hope was lost. Pikachu turned around and looked threateningly at the cat, who had no idea what to do. He would have grabbed Pikachu and taken off with him, but the mouse's intimidating glare refused to let him do so. Meowth decided that the only thing he could do was to act innocent, hoping Pikachu wouldn't guess what he was planning to do.  
"Uh... hi?"  
"Pika..." Pikachu kept his expression, but got on all fours, arched his back, and shot some sparks out of his cheeks. Knowing that he was getting ready to attack, Meowth backed away nervously. He was so scared that he almost completely forgot about the river that was just one backwards step away from him. The moment his foot made it off the grass and started to enter the river, he lost his balance and fell into the water with an audible splash. Pikachu almost immediately calmed down, returned to normal and went back to playing with Lotad.  
"Help! I can't swim! HELP!" On the other hand, Meowth was in a complete panic. He had no idea how to swim, and hated water with a passion, not to mention the fact that the water was really cold. All he could do was scream and flail his arms around as the flowing river pushed him about. He tried calling for help, but it seemed as though there was nothing he could do. He was so wound up with fear that he didn't notice Wobbuffet answering his sidekick's cries and running over to the river. Bending his body down, the Patient Pokemon reached his arm into the river, just inches away from the water that Meowth was in. Miraculously, the cat Pokemon approached Wobbuffet's arm and didn't notice until the last second. He quickly grabbed his hand before he could pass it, and held tight as Wobbuffet pulled him up. Then he placed him back on the ground, feeling concerned for him afterwards.  
Even though Meowth had been saved, he was struggling to regain himself. He coughed a few times, as some water had found its way into his mouth, and then sat up, shivering pathetically. He tried shaking the water off his body like a cat normally does, but his fur was still slightly damp, and felt as cold as an ice pack. He groaned slightly, and sniffled. He had only been in the water for what felt like a minute, and it was already getting to him. Or was it something different?  
"Wob? Wobbuffet?" Wobbuffet asked in curiosity, wanting to know if Meowth was okay. Meowth wanted to respond, but before he could, his actions and dialogue were stopped in their tracks due to the arrival of a sneeze.  
"Ahhh... AaaaAHhhh... AHHHHH-CHOOoooooo!" Meowth released an uncovered sneeze, then recovered and sniffled again before saying something. "I don't feel so good..."  
It didn't look like it, but Wobbuffet felt bad for Meowth. He assumed that Meowth was coming down with something. Neither of them knew for sure, but something was up. Wobbuffet tried his best to comfort Meowth, sympathetically patting him on the back.  
"I think I'm getting a... a... HAAAAAAAH..." Meowth inhaled to sneeze again. Wobbuffet cringed in fear, and then shoved his hand right where Meowth's nose would be. Wobbuffet didn't have any fingers, but regardless, the sneeze was stopped. Meowth's breath returned to normal, but he still looked sneezy, as if he knew exactly what would happen if Wobbuffet removed his hand from his face. "Thanks..."  
"Wobbuffet." Now that the sneeze had been stopped, Wobbuffet removed his hand, but that turned out to be a mistake. The sneeze returned to Meowth in under a split second. This time, there was no way to stop it, and he exploded again.  
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH-CHOOOOooooooooo! Aaaaah, HAAAAAH-CHOOOOOOO!" As he had never been told to cover his mouth, Meowth sneezed right at Wobbuffet's face. There was a thin layer of spray on his face now, but Wobbuffet remained calm and simply wiped the saliva off with a forearm. It was true that sick Pokemon could transfer their illness to other Pokemon simply by sneezing on them, but Wobbuffet was more concerned about his friend than his own health. With his face turning red, from being sick rather than being embarrassed, Meowth sniffed and rubbed his unseen nose with his hand as he apologized and finished his sentence. "Ugh, sorry... I think I'm getting a cold."  
Wobbuffet forgave him, and then helped the cat Pokemon up. He started to lead him somewhere else, but Meowth didn't want to comply.  
"Hey, where we goin'?" he asked in annoyance. "I still gotta catch Pikachu!" To the cat Pokemon's dismay, Wobbuffet shook his head in denial. "What do you mean, no?! I'm gonna be fine!" Although Meowth knew that he had gotten sick, he didn't want to accept it. He was more interested in his long-running mission to capture Pikachu. Looking at the other side of the river, he saw that Pikachu and his friends had gone away, but Meowth was sure that he and Wobbuffet would be able to find them. "Now where did they go?"  
Wobbuffet got an idea. Somehow, he knew how to get to the other side. He crossed the river the same way that Meowth did, by jumping from pillar to pillar until he made it to the other side. Then he turned to Meowth and waved to him, signaling him to come on over. "Wobbuffet!"  
Unlike what Wobbuffet expected, Meowth didn't want to follow along. He really didn't think he could do it. He looked nervously at the water below him. The water that caused him to become sick with such a terrible cold. He cringed in fear. "You have gotta be kidding me!" he said to himself, but then decided to hide his nerves and try to make it across the river. Gathering up as much of his strength as he could, he jumped onto the first pillar, against which water was constantly rubbing and splashing.  
While none of the water actually touched Meowth at first, he shuddered from just knowing it was there. Regaining himself with a small sniffle, he looked around for the next pillar, which was a couple of inches close to him. Once he had seen it, he managed to jump over to it, but had to grab it by its side and wrap his arms around it to keep from sliding off. He panted and sniffled as he tried to relax, but when some water reached and caressed his tail, he cringed and quickly climbed to the top of the pillar. He started to calm down, but still struggled to catch his breath. When he was feeling great, Meowth could jump all of the pillars on the river without a single negative thought, but when he was sick, it was a big pain to jump even two.  
Meowth looked over at Wobbuffet, who was on the other side of the river and waiting patiently for him. Hopefully, Meowth could keep it up and make it. He found the third pillar that he had taken before, and prepared to jump onto it. However, a big wave of water in the river rose up in front of him, and before he had time to react, it swept up and hit Meowth squarely in the face. He managed to hold onto the pillar so that he wouldn't fall off, but he was slightly soaked. A small amount of the water landed on his ears and whiskers, while a larger amount got into his mouth, and some of the water that missed his mouth got up his invisible nose.  
"Ack!" Meowth began to cough harshly from the water in his mouth, but his fit quickly ended when his nose began to respond to the water that it had just taken in. It was so weird that Meowth didn't even have a visible nose or nostrils, but somehow, he could feel the liquid causing a lot of pain inside. At first, a burning sensation took place, but then it turned into an itching sensation. Starting out as mild, the sensation grew in intensity with every passing second, and Meowth began to inhale as he needed to sneeze again.  
"Haaaah... AaaaaaAAAAAH... no..." In an attempt to fight the incoming sneeze, Meowth put a front paw to his unseen nose and rubbed it with as much power as his weakened body could afford. He tried his best, but it became clear that it wasn't working, and he continued to inhale. Only a massive sneeze, which he could safely bet was coming up right now, could blow the water out. "Not gonna..."  
"I'm not... AAAAAAAHHHHH... gonna... HAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH... I'm gonna..." Meowth could feel his paw slipping off his nose, but there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't help himself, and the urge to sneeze was just so overwhelmingly strong that he just gave in and accepted his fate. With a final dramatic breath, he tilted his neck as far back as he could go before shooting it forwards as he screamed his sneeze, which could be heard from several miles off. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"  
Although the sneeze caused no real damage, it was long and loud in the most hellish way imaginable. Some bird Pokemon, such as Pidgey and Spearow, darted away from the trees they were sitting on, and some land Pokemon, such as Rattata, quickly ran for shelter. Even Pikachu and his friends heard it, and thinking it was a threat, they ducked down to avoid any possible impact until it was over. None of them had a single clue who had just sneezed so loudly, but they did their best to forget about it once it was over.  
Even Wobbuffet couldn't believe just how Meowth sneezed. He had to put his hands to his unseen ears just to keep from hearing it, but it was no use whatsoever. The sneeze was as painful as it was earsplitting, and Meowth lost nearly every ounce of his breath from it, but somehow, he managed to recover. Sitting back up, he sniffed and rubbed his nose on what he assumed to be his forefinger. "Ugh, my head hurts..."  
"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet called out, as if blessing Meowth. But rather than responding, Meowth went straight back to what he was doing. He wasn't used to the very few times that he sneezed the way he just did, so he usually denied that they happened at all. It took him a few minutes to gather up portions of his strength and jump the rest of the pillars, but eventually, he made it to the other side of the river without getting too wet. Maybe it was just his cold, but Meowth felt slightly worse than before, and it took him slightly longer to catch his breath. As he panted, he tried to sniffle as much as he could, but it was no use. Thanks to his cold, which had rendered his nose completely stuffed up, he had lost his smell. The only thing he could feel was that annoying sneezy itch again.  
"Ahh... HaaaaAAH..." Meowth began to inhale again, but rubbed at his face with a paw in an attempt to stop it. But like most of his last attempts to stop his sneezes, this wasn't working, so he had to give in and put his paw down after a few seconds had passed. "HAAAAAAAAAHH-CHOOOoooooooooo!"  
"Wobbuffet," Wobbuffet said, as if blessing Meowth again, and then offered him a leaf that he had found. Meowth's reaction wasn't as positive as he hoped, however.  
"What? What do you want me to... AaaaAAAAAAHH..." Meowth inhaled again, then took the leaf and held it over his mouth just in time. "CHHHoooooooo!" After this next sneeze, he sniffled and rubbed his nose on that same leaf. "Never mind, thanks. At least it's something..."  
Despite that Meowth didn't want to accept that he had fallen sick, he knew that Wobbuffet was trying his best to help him, so he couldn't actually complain. Besides, they were on the same team, and their differences didn't stop them from being friends.  
A drop of mucus began to ooze out of Meowth's unseen nose. He sniffled again, trying to suck it up, but it didn't work. He reached a paw to his nose and rubbed it, but he smeared the mucus on his hand. "Ugh." Meowth sniffled again, but then his nose began to itch again, and another sneeze began to build. "Haaaaaah... HAAAAAAAH-"  
"CHOOOOOOOOO!" Meowth sneezed again, and the drop of mucus was nearly flung out of where his nose would be. By the time he had finished, however, the drop simply increased in size and length as it continued to dangle out of his invisible nostril. Meowth raised the leaf back to his nose and exhaled, trying to blow his nose, but no sound could be heard. Meowth looked slightly confused at his failed attempt.  
"What? Why can't I blow my nose?" Meowth put a hand where his nose would be, only to realize something that he had forgotten just a moment ago. "Oh, yeah. I don't have a nose." Just as he finished his sentence, another itch built up in his nose again. He began to inhale again, but he had an idea. "Haaaaaaaah... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-!" After the last inhale, Meowth turned his head away from Wobbuffet and put a hand directly over his mouth before he released the sneeze. "MMMMMMMMMPHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"  
The stifled sneeze released the drop of mucus from his nose, but this time, it managed to make it all of the way out of his unseen nose. After the sneeze had finished, a smaller drop of mucus began to ooze from Meowth's nose as he opened his eyes. He sniffled deeply to suck up the mucus, and managed to get it all back in. Then he rubbed his nose on one of his fingers and groaned.  
"Wobbuffet," Wobbuffet said, as if blessing Meowth.  
"You're right, Wobbuffet..." Meowth said weakly, as he lay down on his back and looked up at the sky. He sniffled occasionally, but his nose stayed slightly runny, although there was no visible mucus oozing out of his nose this time. "I can't catch Pikachu. Not when I'm like this."  
"Wobba-?" Wobbuffet started, but Meowth interrupted him.  
"Yes. I admit it. I am a sick Meowth." Meowth took the leaf he had been given earlier and rubbed his nose with it. He sighed. "As if I wasn't unlucky enough." He turned his head to look at Wobbuffet. "Ya know, I sure could use somebody to help me feel better..."  
"Wob? Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said with a nod. He was more than happy to look after Meowth, his closest friend.  
"Thank you..." Meowth smiled weakly, then turned his head back to face the sky and sniffled again.  
"Wobbuffet?" Wobbuffet asked, wanting to know if Meowth needed anything.  
"Would you find me some more leaves? I have a feeling I'm gonna be sneezing all day..."  
"Wobbuffet." Wobbuffet did his signature pose that looked like he was saluting.  
Then he turned around and shuffled off, leaving Meowth alone in the area. Meowth sniffed and rubbed his invisible nose once more. Judging by how much he had sneezed earlier today, he decided he had no choice but to accept that he was sick. But he knew that he would get better in the next few days, and Wobbuffet had agreed to take care of him and get him whatever he wanted. If he could just remember those two advantages and not count any of his symptoms - the most obvious of which being his constant sneezing - then this cold would be nothing to sneeze at. 


End file.
